An extra dimension of customer focus
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The company: Crane Telecommunications
The story: Company saves money while improving customer service with online tools
While the stock market frenzy that once surrounded the telecommunications sector is a thing of the past, the fact remains that modern economies run on phones, faxes and the internet. That means that even in relatively subdued economic times, telecom companies are pitching their goods and services in a marketplace that is both potentially lucrative and very, very competitive. The fact that the products are on offer have grown ever more complex in recent years sharpens the competitive edge. As Will Morey, marketing manager of Crane telecommunications points out, buyers now expect enhanced customer service as standard.
Crane found a niche in the market as a "value added distributor". In rather plainer English, this means that the company uses equipment supplied by manufacturers such as LG and NEC to put together off-the-shelf telecoms that are then reshipped to resellers. A major part of the company's business is in providing dealers with a huge amount of technical support.
That's where the web comes in. Crane has invested in a self-service customer relationship management system which aims to provide comprehensive support that is also cost effective. For instance, many of the questions from resellers crop up time after time. When the clocks change in spring and autumn, Crane's support workers can safely expect dozens of calls asking how to change the internal clocks in its telecoms system.
This can be hugely time consuming - hence the company's strategy of diverting as much of this traffic as possible to the web through a dynamic 'frequently asked question system.'
It works like this: the answers to the most common questions are posted on the company's web site and customers are encouraged to seek the answer on-line.
When a question comes by e-mail or phone that hasn't been answered online, the query and answer are added to the website. The more common the query, the higher it is on the FAQ list. By doing it this way, customer concerns are captured in a central system rather than being locked in the head of an individual member of the support staff. "By using the internet in this way, we add knowledge to the organisation," says Morey.
Crane's commitment to getting to know its customers doesn't stop there. Using another tool, the company carries out customer satisfaction surveys focusing on specifics such as the impact of staff attitudes. In addition, the company has given account customers access to data from their own accounts. As a result clients can now look up details of their credit limits, invoices and the status of orders across the internet. "This has revolutionized the way people work with us, "says Morey.
However, he admits that it is an area where it is hard to stay ahead. "These days, it's hard to get a competitive edge through technology. To do that, you have to ask clients what they want
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